- Jul 26, 2010
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I don't think hoarders have one specific mental illness, I think of it as possibly a symptom of mental illness, possibly not, actually.
I'm going to summarize as there is so much detail following - please do not assume the tv shows are an accurate depiction of what's going on in these situations, or that they get people help, or that everyone portrayed is mentally disordered in any way. Mental disorders of one kind or another MAY underly the behavior, or it may not, each case should be seen as different. People do not always act crazy because they ARE crazy. There is only one Axis I disorder that has been frequently suggested in hoarding - OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). But it is a suggestion, not a sure thing, and animal hoarders even when someone DOES think they see OCD there, often will not respond to OCD treatment. OCD is a disorder in which small parts of the brain that coordinate behavior are not active enough.
I do think some of these people have problems that don't fit into the category of mental illness. Alcoholism, dementia, many, many other problems.
I'm not even sure there exists a standalone diagnosis of 'hoarding', even. I'll check in the DSM-IV. Hm. The only place it is mentioned in the DSM-IV, is briefly, and it does not specify hoarding animals.
It says hoarding is a possible behavior that the children of alcoholics might show, as they can sometimes get into a pattern of depression, obsessive perfectionism, etc.
In one case I met a man who was 85, showing a lot of signs of disordered thinking, and he had 90 ponies at one point, all living in filth, feet untrimmed for years, he had no idea who was whose sire or dam, no one had worked with the ponies, they were barely halter broke, it was a mess. Were the ponies in bad shape because he was senile? I would have to have seen how he took care of the ponies when he was younger. Maybe he just didn't care about them and it was always that way.
But I found in our family, 'senile' does not always mean 'at an old age'. Tragically, these things can start in middle age or even earlier. Hoarding of objects is often a 'bellwether' (an early sign) of a developing dementia.
I have seen quite a few people who stop taking care of their animals because they were financially ruined and/or depressed. Depression can make it almost impossible to get up and move around, let alone care for animals. House a mess, animals uncared for.
Occasionally it will be linked to focal delusions. This is where instead of all a person's thinking being disordered, there is just one area, one subject, in which the person is delusional (believes something that is clearly untrue). These can be seen after head injuries that affect only a small part of the brain, but they also can occur without any history of head injury too.
Focal delusions DO respond to medication. It is a little weird to watch the person 'stop having that idea'.....but that's what happens, it's because a part of the brain is not functioning as it should. But for them to take medication, they have to be diagnosed and be willing to see a doctor as well as keep taking the medication...yeah. In most cases, NOT gonna happen.
I have a suspicion of one hoarding case that I know of, that MIGHT be due to focal delusion, no known history of head injury, but I am not sure about it. By even suggesting it to myself I fear I'm violating Occam's Razor (stick to the simplest most likely explanation for things). The things the person says about keeping horses, are very, very far out, and to me, are more unrealistic than many of the horse hoarders I see that simply do not care about the horses and want to make money off them.
Both animal hoarding and object hoarding, have been linked to Attention Deficit Disorder, to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Obessive Compulsiver Personality Disorder, Impulse Control Disorder(usually considered to be a part of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), addictions, dementia, and Attachment disorder.
The Obsessive compulsive disorders are no longer thought to be psychological. They respond to medications and several (absolutely miniscule but critical) areas of the brain that are underactive have been pinpointed by using brain imaging to spot brain activity. With OCD, thoughts and actions repeat and repeat without the brain being able to control them. Mild symptoms can often respond to coaching but when it's severe, it does not respond to home remedies.
Attachment Disorder doesn't happen to people with mildly or even rather unpleasant childhoods - it is believed to come out of severely disrupted familly bonds in small children.
But these are all suggestions and possibilities, and not a part of the diagnostic manual, and often, even when some practitioners think they see OCD in these people, the treatment for OCD doesn't work on these people.
I think the people in the program probably let themselves get filmed because they get some money. I seriously doubt that they get therapy or substantive assistance as a result. I think all the staged 'help' is for the benefit of the producers, to make the show more dramatic.
I think this is not done to educate the public or as a way to provide assistance to people with problems. To me, the shows are revolting because people are so fascinated with them.
I don't think the shows result in any substantial, long term improvement of the situations. It's just gawping at some messed up person. I have occasionally watched, just so I can participate in a discussion about the shows, but I find them completely and totally disgusting. I don't care if the person allows themselves to be filmed because they want the money. People do things for money all the time.
Too, I think everyone has to realize that the reasons people give for their problems on these shows, can be complete fabrications. 'My kids left home and these are my babies' and the like. Those 'reasons' are often complete and total fabrications. When people have out-of-control problems, they frequently make up explanations that observers will find tragic and sympathize with. These reasons often have nothing to do with what's happening. Often the person with the problem has absolutely no real idea why they do what they do.
I would caution everyone in assuming that these shows are an accurate representation of the issues behind this behavior. There are also people who keep multiple animals under horrible conditions and do so because they simply don't care about how the animals are kept, and are determined to make money off them.
I'm going to summarize as there is so much detail following - please do not assume the tv shows are an accurate depiction of what's going on in these situations, or that they get people help, or that everyone portrayed is mentally disordered in any way. Mental disorders of one kind or another MAY underly the behavior, or it may not, each case should be seen as different. People do not always act crazy because they ARE crazy. There is only one Axis I disorder that has been frequently suggested in hoarding - OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). But it is a suggestion, not a sure thing, and animal hoarders even when someone DOES think they see OCD there, often will not respond to OCD treatment. OCD is a disorder in which small parts of the brain that coordinate behavior are not active enough.
I do think some of these people have problems that don't fit into the category of mental illness. Alcoholism, dementia, many, many other problems.
I'm not even sure there exists a standalone diagnosis of 'hoarding', even. I'll check in the DSM-IV. Hm. The only place it is mentioned in the DSM-IV, is briefly, and it does not specify hoarding animals.
It says hoarding is a possible behavior that the children of alcoholics might show, as they can sometimes get into a pattern of depression, obsessive perfectionism, etc.
In one case I met a man who was 85, showing a lot of signs of disordered thinking, and he had 90 ponies at one point, all living in filth, feet untrimmed for years, he had no idea who was whose sire or dam, no one had worked with the ponies, they were barely halter broke, it was a mess. Were the ponies in bad shape because he was senile? I would have to have seen how he took care of the ponies when he was younger. Maybe he just didn't care about them and it was always that way.
But I found in our family, 'senile' does not always mean 'at an old age'. Tragically, these things can start in middle age or even earlier. Hoarding of objects is often a 'bellwether' (an early sign) of a developing dementia.
I have seen quite a few people who stop taking care of their animals because they were financially ruined and/or depressed. Depression can make it almost impossible to get up and move around, let alone care for animals. House a mess, animals uncared for.
Occasionally it will be linked to focal delusions. This is where instead of all a person's thinking being disordered, there is just one area, one subject, in which the person is delusional (believes something that is clearly untrue). These can be seen after head injuries that affect only a small part of the brain, but they also can occur without any history of head injury too.
Focal delusions DO respond to medication. It is a little weird to watch the person 'stop having that idea'.....but that's what happens, it's because a part of the brain is not functioning as it should. But for them to take medication, they have to be diagnosed and be willing to see a doctor as well as keep taking the medication...yeah. In most cases, NOT gonna happen.
I have a suspicion of one hoarding case that I know of, that MIGHT be due to focal delusion, no known history of head injury, but I am not sure about it. By even suggesting it to myself I fear I'm violating Occam's Razor (stick to the simplest most likely explanation for things). The things the person says about keeping horses, are very, very far out, and to me, are more unrealistic than many of the horse hoarders I see that simply do not care about the horses and want to make money off them.
Both animal hoarding and object hoarding, have been linked to Attention Deficit Disorder, to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Obessive Compulsiver Personality Disorder, Impulse Control Disorder(usually considered to be a part of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), addictions, dementia, and Attachment disorder.
The Obsessive compulsive disorders are no longer thought to be psychological. They respond to medications and several (absolutely miniscule but critical) areas of the brain that are underactive have been pinpointed by using brain imaging to spot brain activity. With OCD, thoughts and actions repeat and repeat without the brain being able to control them. Mild symptoms can often respond to coaching but when it's severe, it does not respond to home remedies.
Attachment Disorder doesn't happen to people with mildly or even rather unpleasant childhoods - it is believed to come out of severely disrupted familly bonds in small children.
But these are all suggestions and possibilities, and not a part of the diagnostic manual, and often, even when some practitioners think they see OCD in these people, the treatment for OCD doesn't work on these people.
I think the people in the program probably let themselves get filmed because they get some money. I seriously doubt that they get therapy or substantive assistance as a result. I think all the staged 'help' is for the benefit of the producers, to make the show more dramatic.
I think this is not done to educate the public or as a way to provide assistance to people with problems. To me, the shows are revolting because people are so fascinated with them.
I don't think the shows result in any substantial, long term improvement of the situations. It's just gawping at some messed up person. I have occasionally watched, just so I can participate in a discussion about the shows, but I find them completely and totally disgusting. I don't care if the person allows themselves to be filmed because they want the money. People do things for money all the time.
Too, I think everyone has to realize that the reasons people give for their problems on these shows, can be complete fabrications. 'My kids left home and these are my babies' and the like. Those 'reasons' are often complete and total fabrications. When people have out-of-control problems, they frequently make up explanations that observers will find tragic and sympathize with. These reasons often have nothing to do with what's happening. Often the person with the problem has absolutely no real idea why they do what they do.
I would caution everyone in assuming that these shows are an accurate representation of the issues behind this behavior. There are also people who keep multiple animals under horrible conditions and do so because they simply don't care about how the animals are kept, and are determined to make money off them.
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